Sonnet 78
So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
poetry
rivalry
inspiration
patronage
So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
And found such fair assistance in my verse
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes that taught the dumb on high to sing
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly
Have added feathers to the learned's wing
And given grace a double majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine and born of thee:
In others' works thou dost but mend the style,
And arts with thy sweet graces graced be;
But thou art all my art and dost advance
As high as learning my rude ignorance.
What It Means
Shakespeare has used the young man as his inspiration so often that now other poets are doing the same. The young man has become a muse for multiple writers. Shakespeare concedes this — he taught them to do it. But there's a possessiveness in his claim: whatever they write, they're using the young man's beauty. What he writes comes from something deeper — actual knowledge, actual love.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence, opening the 'Rival Poet' group (78–86). Another poet — or poets — was apparently competing for the young man's patronage.
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